Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Okay, so it's been a month, but finally I'm making progress. I signed up at Ladies' Workout Express because they offered a combined program of diet and exercise, and it wasn't too expensive and it's only supposed to last 24 weeks.

But here's the kicker--I have to visit the LWE 3 times a week, and I have to fill out an online diet journal 3 times a week, or the program is extended, week by week, until I do so--or until 2 years have passed, whichever comes first.

This was enough to put the fear of God in me. It's too much money for me to waste by not getting value out of it. So I am moving heaven and earth to make it happen.

Amazing how money will do what health threats will not. High blood pressure? Nah. High triglycerides? Ho-hum. But charge me $30 bucks a month and I'm there. Well, it's $50 with the diet thing.

The upshot, after three weeks of this--I'm doing the workout faithfully. The place is pretty ratty; there's a cheap boom box for a sound system and the owner never bothered to finish painting the walls or attaching baseboards to the rough, splintery bottoms of the drywalled partitions of the "changing cubicles." But the machines are all one really needs to get the job done.

The workout is not too high-intensity (which is what usually sinks me at the beginning of these exercise attempts) and it's quick, and there is accountability, both in terms of the number of times I have to do it and the presence of other people. I just don't like to exercise alone. I need other people to make it worthwhile.

The diet thing is pretty much a bust, though. I have yet to get myself into a routine with that, because the actual diet program is intensely limited in terms of food choices and I just can't bring myself to do that yet.

It's not a bad idea in concept. But where it falls down for me is that you're just supposed to enter your food intake in the online journal after reading the book. Once again, no human contact. Oh, sure, you can ask questions and email all you want, but what good is that?

There's no content of interest on the site. There's no friendliness, no personal attention, no feeling as though you're part of a community even though you're on line. It's dull and solitary, which is the problem with all these diet and exercise things.

however, I did pay money, so that's acting like a goad to get me to start filling in the journal. Of course, my hectic life and the fact that I'm actually moving is enough now to make me lose some weight, so it will be a while before my failure to actually follow his intense no-carb only protein and veggie diet will cause a problem.